Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Mexican Chayote Squash in Chili Sauce Recipe with Mexican coleslaw recipe on the side



We receive a bountiful basket every saturday and it is always a wonderful surprise to see what comes in our basket.  Last week it contained 3 chayote squash, I had no idea what to make with chayote squash.  I've never used this type of squash so I looked around at the FEW recipes available and I wasn't very impressed.  So I decided to create my own, this is a very good recipe with a nice flavor.

We also had two heads of cabbage so I really needed to use them.  The mexican coleslaw idea turned out amazing!  I created the coleslaw dressing without added oil.  It has a wonderful flavor but it has quite a strong lime/vinegar flavor so if you want a more creamy mexican coleslaw dressing I would suggest adding another 1/4 to 1/3 c. of cashews.  Enjoy!




Mexican Coleslaw Recipe


BBQ Lentils and Tempeh Bacon over Gluten Free Biscuits



This is a very fun, easy gluten free dinner recipe.  It is a non-traditional take on sloppy joes and instead of hamburger buns the BBQ mixture is served over gluten free biscuits.  The BBQ sauce recipe  used has a delicious, light flavor.  One of the things I dislike the most about the majority of BBQ sauce recipes is the amount of sugar.  In fact, most barbeque sauces taste like a combination between barbeque and dessert.  I am not a fan of sugary barbeque sauce recipes, so I decided to create a delicious barbeque sauce recipe with just the right hint of sweetness to cut the acid of the tomato but without overpowering the dish.

This barbeque sauce recipe has been featured in many of my main dish recipes and it serves well as an all purpose barbeque sauce for any recipe you may have.  I hope you will enjoy this non-traditional take on the sloppy joe.




Healthy Recipes for Kids is available NOW!


I have created a wonderful collection of healthy snack ideas, tips on hiding veggies in recipes for picky children and much more.

In this amazing collection of healthy recipes for kids I have included amazing snack ideas:
  • Apple sandwiches
  • Pita Pizza faces
  • High calcium smoothies
  • Fun Veggie cutouts with hidden veggie dips
Please check out this amazing collection designed for helping children enjoy healthy food.

Vegan Gluten-free Chocolate Bundt Cake with Mint Frosting

This is the latest amazing gluten free, vegan recipe to come from The Peaceful Kitchen.  I let my son choose any kind of cake he wanted for his birthday and this is what he chose.  This is the most moist, soft, decadent gluten free and vegan chocolate cake recipe you will find.  All of the children at the birthday party came back for seconds, some even came back for thirds.  This gluten free, vegan chocolate cake was a HIT and not a crumb was left at the end of the party!

I generally create oil free, low sugar recipes, but for my children's birthday parties I allow them to choose whatever dessert they want and I generally keep it fairly traditional, albeit in a gluten free, vegan way.  If you are looking for a gluten free, vegan cake to delight even the most discerning tastes this cake will deliver.  I hope you enjoy this cake as much as we have!

Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Recipe

Vegan Mint Icing Recipe

This is a delicious, light mint icing recipe.  I created this mint icing recipe with a lower amount of earth balance than most vegan icing recipes.  The lower fat content does make it a thinner icing but as you can see from the photo above it makes a beautiful icing.


Thursday, April 21, 2011

Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Chocolate Chip Filling

Vegan Gluten Free Vanilla Cream Stuffed Chocolate Cake Recipe

This vegan, gluten free chocolate cake recipe was created as a birthday dessert.  I took on the challenge of striving to create a vegan, gluten free, low sugar, oil free cake recipe.  If you have ever tried to make an oil free cake, or even a gluten free cake you understand the enormous undertaking this creation was.
One trick I have learned in low fat and gluten free baking is the amazing properties of coconut flour!  Coconut flour eliminates the need for xanthan gum in most gluten free baking and it also gives moisture to oil free baking. 

I am not a fan of powdered sugar, I rarely use it except on special occasions but I personally do not like to eat it.  I designed this cake with an oil free, powder sugar free frosting. The frosting is thin but it has a wonderful flavor. This cake turned out VERY light, moist and flavorful!  It was a HUGE hit with my family...that is until our golden lab ate the rest of it on the table!




Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Vegan Corn Chowder Recipe




I tend to add as many vegetables to a recipe as I can so if you do not want to add in all the veggies you can certainly make this by adding more corn and potatoes and leaving out the rest of the veggies.  This corn chowder is very simple to make and yet it is really good!  I used crumbled sunburgers in it to give it a little more texture, it added really good flavor as well.

This vegan corn chowder uses cashews to give it a rich, creamy consistency and a little nutritional yeast to add a cheesy quality.  It turned out really good.  Soups are so easy to throw together when you are short on time and this recipe does not sacrifice flavor one bit.  I love the way the rosemary adds something special to the recipe. 



Healthy Recipes for Kids



I am currently working on a very special project!  I want to give my blog readers the first opportunity to purchase my new recipe collection for children.  I have put together a wonderful collection of healthy, kid friendly recipes for moms who struggle to get their kids to eat healthy.  I have finished an informative podcast on getting children to eat healthy as well as a myriad of healthy snack ideas.

This program should be ready by the end of the week and I will post a link so you can purchase it as soon as it comes out.  It will be an AMAZING program!

Mint Frosting on Vegan Gluten Free Fudgy Brownie


This picture is just a teaser....... I have been working on a low sugar, no refined oil fudgy brownie recipe.  This one was quite good but not fudgy enough yet.   This brownie had a delicious mint frosting on top.

.  Spread on cookies, brownies, cakes or dip fruit in it....YUM!

Corn Chowder, Vegan Gluten free buttermilk biscuits



Vegan Gluten Free Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe


There are a few tricks with gluten free biscuits that make them light and fluffy.  You really need to use coconut flour, it absorbs a lot of liquid and gives a lot of wonderful light texture to gluten free baked goods.  I have found that when I use coconut flour in gluten free baking I do not usually need to use xanthan gum.  Xanthan gum often causes baked goods to take on a 'gummy' texture that I do not like.  Generally with gluten free baking you either get a crumbly mess to a gummy texture that is undesirable.  Coconut flour solves this problem beautfully.  These delicious vegan gluten free buttermilk biscuits do not contain xanthan gum but they hold together extremely well, they are not crumbly, nor are they gummy.
 

I generally add between 1/4 to 1/3 c. of coconut flour to each gluten free recipe.  You don't need much or it will absorb too much liquid and make the baked goods dry.  If you are making a gluten free recipe substitute about 1/4 to 1/3 c. of any other gluten free flour with coconut flour.

I try to avoid refined oils if at all possible, this can be a daunting task as most baked goods contain a fair amount of refined oil.  Refined oil gives a rich flavor to baked goods.  This recipe is fairly light, but if you want to add Earth balance for the applesauce you can certainly do that and the recipe will turn out very well that way as well.


Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl Cookie Recipe


These cookies are amazing!!!  I created this because my husbands two favorite dessert flavors are peanut butter and chocolate.  I wasn't expecting too much out of this cookie recipe because it was a quick recipe creation but they were dangerously delicious.  We all ate too many of them and ended up feeling over-stuffed!  I am sure you will enjoy these cookies as much as we did.

You can swirl these in any way you would like.  I just scooped out a little chocolate dough and a little peanut butter dough and pressed them together.  Kids really have fun playing with the dough and making fun designs to involve the kiddos for a fun family activity. 

I created this peanut butter chocolate swirl cookie to be low in sugar.  Desserts are often sickeningly sweet and these cookies have just the right amount of sweetness but not overpoweringly sugary.  The combination of some turbinado sugar and stevia helps give a good flavor but reduces the amount of sugar needed without the bad aftertaste of desserts made solely with stevia.  You cannot taste the stevia in the final cookie at all but it does increase the sweetness of the recipe nicely.

Recipe tip:  If you'd like to reduce the amount of sugar in any recipe you can reduce it by 1/2 to 1/3 and add 2-3 Tb. of stevia in the raw to the recipe.

P.F. Chang's style vegetarian lettuce wrap recipe

I have been working on a P.F. Chang's style lettuce wrap recipe for a long time.  Each time I would get close but I really wanted this to have a distinct flavor.  I created this lettuce wrap recipe at home and then took the recipe and served it at a dinner party for about 14 people.  The lettuce wrap recipe received rave reviews! You can try different versions of this recipe by using my sunburger recipe in it as well as tempeh, seitan or anything else that sounds good.

You can change the spiciness of the recipe by increasing the amount of chili sauce.  My family is very sensitive to spice, in fact, they don't even like garlic powder because it is too spicy for them, so this lettuce wrap recipe is quite mild.  If you like the spice go ahead and increase the heat to your liking.

This lettuce wrap recipe does take quite a bit of preparation but it is well worth it.  The rice stick noodles are very tricky and can burn easily.  You can certainly make the recipe without the rice stick noodles if you are in a hurry, but I think they add a unique crunchiness to the overall texture.  Enjoy!




Gluten free Easter Bunny Buns Doughnut


These gluten free sweet bread twists take quite a bit of preparation but they are really delicious!  I used a combination of leavening agents in this sweet bread twist recipe, due to the lack of gluten yeast often does not raise the bread enough leaving it a little flat.   The baking powder in this recipe gave it exactly what it needed.

This was a special treat for my daughter, she wanted a special recipe to have for Easter so we tested this one.  We spent Sunday afternoon making these and she enjoyed rolling them out and forming them into the little 'bunny twist' shape.  This makes an excellent project for kids!  Involve the family on a  lazy Saturday or Sunday afternoon and make these delicious gluten free Easter bunny buns.


Cover and let them rise again 45 minutes. Bake 375 for 12-15 minutes. Glaze. (We used stevia, maple powder, cinnamon, vanilla, soymilk, 1 tsp. earth balance to make our glaze.)